Jenny Hjul: Michael Russell must rescue the thistle

Scotland’s education system is sinking fast and it is the new education minister's task to initiate a plan of action

Scotland's new education minister, Michael Russell, doesn't have his troubles to seek. First, his name has been dragged into the "cybernat" affair again, with claims that he knew about - and contributed to - a sacked employee's hate-filled blog. Then the school league tables appeared. These must make grim reading for someone recently given the task of improving education, revealing, as they do, a postcode picture of achievement.

The worst performing schools continue to decline, with some failing to get any children through their Higher exams, while others are distinguished by soaring truancy rates. Deprivation still appears to have a major impact on attainment and the correlation between failure and a disadvantaged background is glaring.

What can Russell do? Let's hope he is not too distracted by the avenging blogger, because the league tables reflect a deficiency in Scottish schools serious enough to demand the minister's full attention.